Agents Find No Evidence Of A Plot In Church Fires

WASHINGTON - — Federal law enforcement officials said on Tuesday that they had found no evidence of a conspiracy linking dozens of fires at black churches across the South.

But some of the incidents of arson and vandalism appeared related and others were traced to members of white supremacist groups, they said.

Speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the church arsons, officials of the Justice and Treasury departments said investigating the church fires was a high priority. According to Justice Department figures, there have been 28 arson attacks on black churches, mainly in the South, in the past 17 months.

Civil rights groups say 45 churches have been attacked since 1990.

"The numbers are chilling," said Deval Patrick, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "We are facing an epidemic of terror."

Patrick said 200 agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were investigating the cases, and were making progress in unraveling them. Nearly a quarter of the church arsons reported to the Justice Department in 1995 and 1996 had been resolved, Patrick said.

While some of the fires have proven not to be crimes, investigators have tied several cases to racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Faction and skinheads. Many black community leaders have been critical of the pace and intensity of the investigative effort.

"Is it any wonder that we are outraged that law enforcement agencies insist on denying the racist nature of these attacks on the soul of the black community - our churches?" said the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Lowery blamed the fires on an atmosphere of growing intolerance in which strong political rhetoric has been leveled against affirmative action, the federal government and welfare recipients, pitting them as enemies of working people, anxious about their economic future.

Some members of the Judiciary Committee expressed skepticism about whether the investigating agencies wanted to pursue these cases aggressively.